Intech Investment Management LLC Acquires 30,982 Shares of Catalyst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $CPRX

Intech Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Catalyst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRX) by 44.2% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 101,069 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after purchasing an additional 30,982 shares during the quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Catalyst Pharmaceuticals were worth $2,193,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Creative Planning increased its stake in Catalyst Pharmaceuticals by 19.6% during the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 16,385 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $356,000 after acquiring an additional 2,689 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS boosted its holdings in shares of Catalyst Pharmaceuticals by 9.7% in the 2nd quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 29,437 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $639,000 after purchasing an additional 2,607 shares during the period. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey boosted its holdings in shares of Catalyst Pharmaceuticals by 4.3% in the 2nd quarter. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey now owns 25,699 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $558,000 after purchasing an additional 1,067 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Catalyst Pharmaceuticals by 3.7% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,866,683 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $62,214,000 after purchasing an additional 101,127 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. raised its holdings in Catalyst Pharmaceuticals by 6.0% during the 2nd quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 517,666 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $11,233,000 after buying an additional 29,079 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.22% of the company’s stock.

Catalyst Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 1.2%

Shares of CPRX opened at $22.77 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $20.96 and a 200-day moving average price of $21.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.80, a P/E/G ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.79. Catalyst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 12-month low of $19.05 and a 12-month high of $26.58.

Catalyst Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:CPRX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, September 25th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.28 earnings per share for the quarter. The company had revenue of $53.11 million during the quarter. Catalyst Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 37.36% and a return on equity of 40.78%. Analysts predict that Catalyst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post 1.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Catalyst Pharmaceuticals declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, October 1st that permits the company to buyback $200.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the biopharmaceutical company to reacquire up to 8.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Catalyst Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Catalyst Pharmaceuticals from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 7th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Catalyst Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, November 16th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Catalyst Pharmaceuticals from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. Finally, Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $33.00 price objective on shares of Catalyst Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $32.67.

Insider Transactions at Catalyst Pharmaceuticals

In other Catalyst Pharmaceuticals news, Director David S. Tierney sold 26,000 shares of Catalyst Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.20, for a total transaction of $525,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 379,620 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,668,324. The trade was a 6.41% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Steve Miller sold 115,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.28, for a total value of $2,332,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 949,663 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,259,165.64. This represents a 10.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 243,970 shares of company stock worth $4,927,241 over the last three months. Company insiders own 10.40% of the company’s stock.

Catalyst Pharmaceuticals Profile

Catalyst Pharmaceuticals, Inc, a commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on developing and commercializing therapies for people with rare debilitating, chronic neuromuscular, and neurological diseases in the United States. It offers Firdapse, an amifampridine phosphate tablets for the treatment of patients with lambert-eaton myasthenic syndrome (LEMS); and Ruzurgi for the treatment of pediatric LEMS patients.